The demise of the Volkswagen Beetle has been announced for the second or third time in its history. The 2019 model is the last one that will be rolled out.

The model returned to the market after a brief non -manufacturing period in 2011. I have one. A convertible. Bought the model in its first year. Still own it in its last year.

In the auto resale business, cars that come out for the first time the year of purchase are worth extra dollars on resale. So too with cars owned the year manufacture was terminated.

My Volkswagen has both ends of the spectrum. Curious to see what it will bring when sold.

ISIS leader al-Bagadadi was buried yesterday. His body dropped from an airplane into the ocean. As Ben-Laden’s was. Winners do not want the body of a losing leader to be buried where his followers can pay homage to the memory of one that was considered evil, corrupt, etc.

There are 2 wars that never seem to end. The wars on terrorism and drugs. Think how many years the U.S. has been waging both.

Too many American lives lost. Too many lives in general lost.

Trump and the U.S. lie. Putin and Russia lie.

At issue, the oil in Syria. The oil that Trump says he has sent U.S. tanks and troops to protect. The next day, Putin announced he was sending tanks and troops in to protect the oil.

Both men are accomplished liars.

They both claim the oil at the present time. Oil that was little mentioned till the past week.

The Russian Defense Minister yesterday published evidence that the U.S. had been and was smuggling oil out of Syria. Air high photos were shown of U.S. trucks and military troops protecting the oil as it was being driven out of Syria.

Whenever there was a problem in the U.S. oil carrying trucks being disturbed, U.S. military aircraft were called in for protection.

Russia claims the U.S. controls a company called “Sadcap.” The company is engaged in the export of the oil. Russia further claims the income from the oil’s sales goes to personal accounts of U.S. PMCs and Special Forces.

One barrel of smuggled Syrian oil is worth $38 a barrel. Russia claims the U.S. has been taking in income in the amount to $30 million a month. Russia further claims the Pentagon and Langley have and are ready to defend the oil fields from “mystical hidden IS cells.”

True or false?

My suspicion is Russia is lying. How could the U.S. have been moving all that oil and no one knew about it.

Time will tell.

James S. Sherman died this date in 1912. He was Vice-President of the United States at the time.

I mention Sherman because he was born and raised in my hometown Utica. Represented the Utica area for many years in Congress. Maintained his personal residence in Utica at the time of his death.

I enjoy walking through cemeteries. Not because I enjoy the dying. Rather it is the history that can be learned. Wording on tombstones reveals a lot about an area.

One of Utica’s larger cemeteries is Calvary. On one on my walks, I thought I saw a tombstone in a heavily worded area. I made my way through the foliage.

There sitting was one of the most beautiful stones I had ever seen. Sitting on the edge of a rise overlooking Utica. Could not be seen from that side for the same reason it could not be seen from the back. The overgrown foliage of the years.

It was Sherman’s stone. Majestic. I knew even before I read what was on the stone that it had to be over the grave of an important person.

After Tuesday Talk last night, I watched the World Series. Excellent game. Tonight, I will watch the World Series again. The last and deciding game. Should be exciting.

I am not a baseball fan per se. Too slow for me.

I have probably attended every major sporting event in the U.S. Except for one. The World Series. Proof the game fails to turn me on. However, I enjoy watching a game or 2 of the World Series each year. On TV, not in real life.

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I am not a conspiracy theorist, but… one only has to remember the Iran-Contra affair to know the US and the military are clearly capable of pulling off large scale clandestine operations.

How is it that we are now saying we’re burying al-Bagadadi’s body at sea by airplane when only a few days ago we made such a big deal about him having cowardly blown himself up by way of a suicide vest, taking at least 3 of his children with him. I was in Iraq as part of that first Bush go around and I’m hrtr to tell you that there ain’t anything left to dump in the ocean when someone blows themself up. Something ain’t right about this whole story (no surprise really) and we’re not being told the real truth.

I don’t have your first hand experience, but it seems that an explosion in a confined space (tunnel) would leave enough remains to be collected. Also, I’ve heard that detonation of a suicide vest usually leaves the head somewhat intact. True?

No, a combined space would make it worse, and the head would very likely be at best just a mas* of goop. A suicide vest is designed to make things beyond recognizable. Probably enough matter to do DNA, but nothing that would resemble a body or anything resembling Trump’s description in his speech. An explosion with a suicide vest, especially in a confined tunnel, would have left a body pretty much like what we found at the 9/11 towers – nothing. The whole explanation part (at least) is really just a put up, a stunt.